Worth remembering that although Podemos seems to have won a greater share of the vote than the Socialists - 21.7% to 20.5% according to the RTE poll; 21.1% to 20.4% according to Antena 3 - it may not translate into the new party winning more seats because of the way Spanish electoral law works.

Basically, Podemos appears to have attracted fewer preferences in little-populated areas, where the Socialists look to have done better.

Some are pointing out that - if the exit polls are correct - then the lure of Podemos appears to have been significantly underestimated in previous polls, while that of Ciudadanos has been overestimated:

According to the exit polls, the Popular party would win between 114 and 124 of the 176 seats it would need for an absolute majority. The Socialists would win 79-85 seats, Podemos 70-80 and Ciudadanos 46-40.

Iglesias, who voted in a working class neighborhood of Madrid, said Spain was “going through a new transition” as Podemos and Ciudadanos seek to take votes away from the nation’s traditional Popular Party and Socialist Party, which have dominated Spanish politics for more than three decades.

Iglesias said: “After tonight, I am sure the history of our country will change.”

The leader of Spain’s new business-friendly Ciudadanos party, Albert Rivera, has said his country is entering into a new era of democracy with a vote likely to end the nation’s decades of two-party political dominance.

Casting his vote in a working class suburb of Barcelona, Albert Rivera said he and other young Spaniards who weren’t alive during the nation’s 1939-1975 dictatorship “didn’t experience the first democratic transition [and] are experiencing a second one”. He added: “This is a new era.”

At the age of 36, Rivera is the youngest candidate among the four main parties vying for power. But without heavy voter turnout, Rivera warned that Spain might not change the way he wants it to.

“There have never been changes in Spanish politics when there has been low participation,” he said. (Via AP)